Milka...

"Milka", 130/110cm, oil on canvas, 2016.

Opening for Essence....May 3rd, 2016, Arosita Gallery, Sofia BG...

Opening Night at Arosita Gallery, Sofia BG, May 3rd, 2016

Essence
noun
1.
the basic, real, and invariable nature of a thing or its significant individual feature or features:
Freedom is the very essence of our democracy.
2.
a substance obtained from a plant, drug, or the like, by distillation,infusion, etc., and containing its characteristic properties in concentrated form.
3.
an alcoholic solution of an essential oil; spirit.
4.
a perfume; scent.
5.
Philosophy. the inward nature, true substance, or constitution of anything, as opposed to what is accidental, phenomenal, illusory, etc.
6.
something that exists, especially a spiritual or immaterial entity.

Opening Night at Arosita Gallery, Sofia BG, May 3rd, 2016

Background:

I was born and grew up in Texas, a region of the United States well known for its gun culture. Guns are ubiquitous in this region; it is not uncommon to see them racked up in the back windows of pick-up trucks, or since the start of this year with the implementation of a new law, worn in the open in public spaces in a holster on the hip. From an early age I was filled with shock and horror as no less than seven of my school friends either were murdered, murdered someone else or committed suicide with weapons that were all too easily obtained. In such an environment there is a constant unease in the background of your mind that in any moment your life may be at risk. In the last decades the issue of gun ownership has become what could be the most divisive issue in American society as there have been a seemingly endless series of tragedies involving guns occurring on a daily basis and an increasing intransigence on the part of gun owners to relinquish their weapons as they have come to view their ownership of guns as an integral part of their identity which is under threat from a rapidly changing society. For my part, living half a world away and 15 years out of this environment I have mostly only considered this issue in the most abstract and disinterested ways.

Opening Night at Arosita Gallery, Sofia BG, May 3rd, 2016

On January 11th of this year an old friend of mine contacted me to inform me that my brother had been murdered that day, shot in the head by a “friend” as they were having an argument. Needless to say, the “abstract” issue became very real to me in an instant. Beyond such an issue there are the myriad of emotions, thoughts, questions and realizations that accompany the experience of such a personal tragedy, especially when that tragedy is given little clarification or explanation and is only given scope to be viewed from a great distance and in isolation as nothing more than a very primal demonstration of death. 

Opening Night at Arosita Gallery, Sofia BG, May 3rd, 2016

The exhibition:
“Essence” is an attempt to strip away the pretensions and ambiguous positions that I have often employed in my work; to speak simply and directly, in visual terms sincerely and most likely naively, a small portion of the experience described above. To achieve this goal the exhibition is composed of several divergent types of work: some relate to interior emotions resulting as a consequence of the event described and simply aim to give them a visible form, while others act as signifiers of particular thoughts and are offered as a “starting point” for the viewer to have their own thoughts in relation to them. 

The exhibition consists of a short series of self portraits based on the concept of dissonance; the idea of two disharmonious, yet coexisting elements in the psychology whose dissonance provokes the need for resolution and eventually leads to a single new and unified concept. Practically these paintings are made from transparent double images, each image relating a single emotion or thought, and yet uniting into a new composite image indicating a third possibility.

Opening Night at Arosita Gallery, Sofia BG, May 3rd, 2016

There are four variations of a single image of my brother. In the aftermath of the event described and during the investigation, many people have told the story of what happened: each is different from the other, and each time the story is retold it is slightly different and more distorted. Visually, the same process is repeated in these four paintings.

There are three works which denote my personal view towards guns and the culture surrounding them. 

There are four works dedicated to mortality, they serve to bring the focus to a deeper level than that of a topical event or a political issue.

Opening Night at Arosita Gallery, Sofia BG, May 3rd, 2016

Галерия Аросита
Представя
Гордан Картър 
“ЕСЕНЦИЯ”
03- 21 Май 2016
Откриване на: 03. Май, 18,30 ч.
“Есенция”
съществително
1.
основната, реална и неизменна природа на нещо или неговата специфична индивидуална черта или черти:
„Свободата е самата същност на нашата демокрация”.
2.
вещество, получено от растения, билки или други подобни, чрез дестилация, инфузия, и т.н., и съдържащо характерните си вещества в концентрирана форма.
3.
алкохолен разтвор на етерично масло.
4.
парфюм; аромат.
5.
във философията: същност, вътрешна природа, същинска субстанция или конституцията на всичко, за разлика от това, което е случайно, феноменалено, илюзорно, и т.н.
6.
нещо, което съществува като духовна или нематериална единица.

In situ...

Бекграунд:

Роден съм и израснал в Тексас, регион на САЩ, добре известен със своята култура на оръжията. Оръжията са навсякъде там. Не е необичайно да ги видите да стърчат от задните прозорци на пикапите или от началото на тази година, с прилагането на нов закон, носени открито на обществени места в кобур на бедрото. От най-ранна възраст бях изпълнен с потрес и ужас, защото точно седем мои приятели от училище са или убити, или убили някого, или извършили самоубийство с оръжия, съвсем достъпни за тях. В такава среда , на заден план в съзнанието ви постоянно стои безпокойството, че във всеки един момент животът ви може да бъде изложени на риск. През последните десетилетия въпросът за притежаване на оръжие се е превърнал в може би най-противоречивият въпрос за американското общество, защото е свързан с една безкрайна поредица от ежедневни трагедии включващи оръжие. От друга страна расте непримиримостта на собствениците на оръжие и тяхното нежелание да се откажат от тях, тъй като те възприемат своите оръжия като неделима част от идентичността си, изложена на заплаха в бързо променящото се общество. От своя страна, аз, който живея на половин свят разстояние и вече 15 години съм далеч от тази среда , мога да разглеждам този въпрос съвсем абстрактно и дистанцирано.

In situ...

На 11 януари тази година, стар мой приятел се свърза с мен и ми съобщи, че брат ми е бил убит същия ден, прострелян в главата от "приятел", с когото са спорели. Излишно е да казвам, че "абстрактният" ми поглед към въпроса стана много реален в този миг. Зад такъв проблем стоят безброй емоции, мисли, въпроси и недоумения, които съпътстват преживяването на подобна лична трагедия, особено когато има твърде малко яснота или обяснение за случилото се и то може да бъде разглеждано само от голямо разстояние и в изолация, като една много първична демонстрация на смъртта.

Изложбата:

"Есенция" е опит да избягам от претенциите и неясните позиции, които често се проявяват в работата ми; да говоря просто и директно, а във визуално отношение искрено и най-вероятно наивно, предавайки една малка част от опита, описан по-горе.
За да постигна тази цел, съм композирал изложбата от няколко различаващи се по вид работи: едни са свързани с вътрешните емоции, явили се в резултат на гореописаното събитие и с простото желание да им намеря видима форма, докато други действат като означения на дадени мои мисли и ги предлагам като "отправна точка" за зрителите, с цел да предизвикат собствените им мисли.

In situ...

Изложбата се състои от кратка серия автопортрети, изградени на базата на концепцията за дисонанс; идеята за два дисхармонични, но едновременно съществуващи елемента в психологията, чийто дисонанс провокира необходимостта от разрешение и в крайна сметка води до една нова и обединителна концепция. На практика тези картини са изработени от прозрачни двойни изображения, всяко изображение, свързано с емоция или мисъл, обединени в ново комбинирано изображение, представляващо трета възможност.

In situ...

Има четири варианта на едно изображение на брат ми - като резултат от описанието на събитието в хода на разследването. Много хора са разказали случилото се и всеки разказ е различен от другия. При всеки нов преразказ на историята, тя се явява малко по-различна и малко по-изкривена. Визуално същият процес се повтаря в тези четири картини.

Има три произведения, които представят личното ми мнение за пистолетите и културата около тях.

Има и още четири произведения, посветени на смъртността. Те трябва да отведат фокуса към по-дълбоко ниво от това на новинарско събитие или политически въпрос.

In situ...

New Paintings...2016

Dissonance Painting 14, 90cm/60cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Dissonance Painting 13, 115cm/86cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Dissonance Painting 15, 100cm/100cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Dissonance Painting 16, 100cm/100cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Beneath the Mask, 42cm/35cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Essence I, 26cm/26cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Essence II, 26cm/26cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Essence III, 26cm/26cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Candy for the Killer I-III, 26cm/35cm each, oil on canvas, 2016

Charles:Variations of the Truth I-IV, 53cm/43cm, oil on canvas, 2016

Dissonance painting 3

"Dissonance painting 3: Sense of doubt",  60/43cm, oil on canvas, 2015

According to Jungian psychology, individuation is a process of psychological integration. "In general, it is the process by which individual beings are formed and differentiated [from other human beings]; in particular, it is the development of the psychological individual as a being distinct from the general, collective psychology."

Individuation is a process of transformation whereby the personal and collective unconscious are brought into consciousness (e.g., by means of dreams, active imagination, or free association) to be assimilated into the whole personality. It is a completely natural process necessary for the integration of the psyche. Individuation has a holistic healing effect on the person, both mentally and physically.

In addition to Jung's theory of complexes, his theory of the individuation process forms conceptions of a phylogenetically acquired unconscious filled with mythic images, a non-sexual libido, the general types of extraversion and introversion, the compensatory and prospective functions of dreams, and the synthetic and constructive approaches to fantasy formation and utilization.

"The symbols of the individuation process . . . mark its stages like milestones, prominent among them for Jungians being the shadow, the wise old man . . . and lastlythe anima in man and the animus in woman." Thus, "There is often a movement from dealing with the persona at the start . . . to the ego at the second stage, to the shadow as the third stage, to the anima or animus, to the Self as the final stage. Some would interpose the Wise Old Man and the Wise Old Woman as spiritual archetypes coming before the final step of the Self."

Dissonance Painting 2: Dual States

"Dissonance painting 2: Dual States ", 60/43cm, oil on canvas, 2015

From the work of Wolfgang Pauli and Carl G. Jung has resulted a philosophical approach, called by Harald Atmanspacher the Pauli-Jung conjecture, of dual-aspect monism which has a very specific further feature, namely that different aspects may show a complementarity in a quantum physical sense. That is, the Pauli-Jung conjecture implies that with regard to mental and physical states there may be incompatible descriptions of different parts that emerge from the whole. This stands in close analogy to quantum physics, where complementary properties cannot be determined jointly with accuracy.




Atmanspacher further refers to Paul Bernays' views on complementarity in physics and in philosophy when he states that "two complementary description mutually exclude each other although both together are needed to describe the situation exhaustively.




In physics, complementarity is a both a theoretical and experimental result of quantum mechanics, also referred as principle of complementarity, closely associated with the Copenhagen interpretation. It holds that objects have complementary properties which cannot be measured accurately at the same time. The more accurately one property is measured, the less accurately the complementary property is measured, according to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Further, a full description of a particular type of phenomenon can only be achieved through measurements made in each of the various possible bases — which are thus complementary. The complementarity principle was formulated by Niels Bohr, a leading founder of quantum mechanics.

dissonance painting 1

"dissonance painting 1: the shadow", 60/43cm, oil on canvas, 2015

' In Jungian psychology, the shadow or "shadow aspect" may refer to (1) an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself. Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative, or (2) the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious. There are, however, positive aspects which may also remain hidden in one's shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem).[1] Contrary to a Freudian definition of shadow, therefore, the Jungian shadow can include everything outside the light of consciousness, and may be positive or negative. "Everyone carries a shadow," Jung wrote, "and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is."[2] It may be (in part) one's link to more primitive animal instincts,[3] which are superseded during early childhood by the conscious mind.

According to Carl Jung, the shadow, in being instinctive and irrational, is prone to psychological projection, in which a perceived personal inferiority is recognised as a perceived moral deficiency in someone else. Jung writes that if these projections remain hidden, "The projection-making factor (the Shadow archetype) then has a free hand and can realize its object--if it has one--or bring about some other situation characteristic of its power." [4] These projections insulate and harm individuals by acting as a constantly thickening veil of illusion between the ego and the real world.

From one perspective, 'the shadow...is roughly equivalent to the whole of the Freudian unconscious';[5] and Jung himself asserted that 'the result of the Freudian method of elucidation is a minute elaboration of man's shadow-side unexampled in any previous age'.[6]

Jung also believed that "in spite of its function as a reservoir for human darkness—or perhaps because of this—the shadow is the seat of creativity.";[7] so that for some, it may be, 'the dark side of his being, his sinister shadow...represents the true spirit of life as against the arid scholar.'  '

Steps Ahead, Symposium for Contemporary Art 2015, Blagoevgrad Bulgaria

Bogdan Aleksandrov and Sasho Stoitzov

Getting serious with a work in progress

Work in Progress by Dimitar Yaranov

Details

thinking about it

Bogdan Aleksandrov

working

Yeah

Add caption

working on the second of the two paintings

working it out

watching myself

shadows growing longer as the work is almost done

second painting in first stages by Dimitar Yaranov

still working it out....

photo op with Dimitar Yaranov

Second painting complete